{"id":81696,"date":"2026-05-31T16:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eyesofageneration.com\/?p=81696"},"modified":"2026-05-31T16:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:25:09","slug":"the-amazingly-precise-history-of-color-television-from-ed-reitan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/?p=81696","title":{"rendered":"The Amazingly Precise History of Color Television from Ed Reitan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><span class=\"Comic\">Ed Reitan&#8217;s Color Television History<\/span><\/center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/line.gif\" alt=\"Color Line\" width=\"600\" height=\"6\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"48%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"9%\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"91%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/ktla_rose_parade.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">KTLA&#8217;s 1955 Colorcast of The Tournament of Roses Parade<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(clipping of Variety Review)<a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/cbs_%20color_programming_rev_h.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">CBS Color Television System Programming (1951)\u00a0<\/span><\/a>(added licensed Time-Life photo)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/cbs_chronology_rev_h_edit.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">CBS Color Television System Chronology\u00a0<\/span><\/a>&#8211; a &#8220;Magnum Opus&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/gallery_index_v2.02_11-20-2006.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">RCA Models using the CTC-10 Chassis<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has been added to the Receiver Gallery<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/pioneers_6m.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The Color Pioneers &#8211; Local Stations with Early Live Color Capability<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/line.gif\" alt=\"Color Line\" width=\"600\" height=\"6\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The Following Program is Brought to You<\/h2>\n<h2>in Living Color by<\/h2>\n<h2>Edwin Howard Reitan, Jr.<\/h2>\n<h3>[the web site for the history of early color television]<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/line.gif\" alt=\"Color Line\" width=\"600\" height=\"6\" \/><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"46%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"9%\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"91%\"><strong>Feature Attractions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"90%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rose_parade.html\">The Day a Black and White World, Changed into Living Color &#8211; January 1, 1954<\/a>Color Television System Development<\/p>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_sys_cbs.html\">CBS Field Sequential Color System<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/cbs_chronology_rev_h_edit.html\">CBS Color Television System Chronology<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_sys_rca%20.html\">RCA Dot Sequential Color System<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/ntsc_overview.html\">The Progress of the National Television System Committee (NTSC)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Early Programming for Color Television<\/p>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/cbs_%20color_programming_rev_h.html\">CBS Color Television System Programming (1951)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/ktla_rose_parade.html\">TLA&#8217;s 1955 Colorcast of The Tournament of Roses Parade<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Colorcasting Development<\/p>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_cameras.html\">Color Television Camera Development<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/studios.html\">Early Network Color Television Studio Facilities<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rca_nbc_firsts.html\">RCA-NBC Firsts in Color Television &#8211; a Chronology<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/pioneers_6m.html\">The Color Pioneers &#8211;\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/pioneers_6m.html\">Local Stations with Early Live Color Capability<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Color Television Receiver Development<\/p>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rca_labs_rcvrs.html\">RCA Labs Developmental Color Television Receivers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/camden_rcvrs.html\">RCA Camden Developmental Color Receivers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/clr_rcvr_db.html\">Early Field Test, Prototype, and Commercial Color Receivers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Color Receiver Gallery<\/p>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/gallery_index_v2.02_11-20-2006.html\">The First\u00a0<s>Five<\/s>\u00a0Eight Years of RCA Victor Color Receivers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/bibliography.html\">Color Television Bibliography<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/wanted.html\">Wanted, Research Materials: Documentation, Equipment, and War Stories<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/whats_new_c.html\">What&#8217;s New\u00a0<\/a>&#8211; History of the Color Television Web Site<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/line.gif\" alt=\"Color Line\" width=\"600\" height=\"6\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table border=\"2\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"2\" cellpadding=\"5\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rose_parade.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/rose_p_s.gif\" alt=\"Rose Parade\" width=\"64\" height=\"75\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rose_parade.html\">The Day a Black and White World, Changed into Living Color<\/a><br \/>\nJanuary 1, 1954<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_sys_cbs.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/cbs_color_tp_s.gif\" alt=\"CBS Color TP\" width=\"99\" height=\"76\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_sys_cbs.html\">CBS Field Sequential Color System<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/cbs_chronology_rev_h_edit.html\">CBS Chronology<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_sys_rca%20.html\">RCA Dot Sequential Color System<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\">\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/ntsc_overview.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/ntsc_s.jpg\" alt=\"NTSC\" width=\"99\" height=\"50\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/ntsc_overview.html\">The Progress of the National Television System Committee (NTSC)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"34%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_cameras.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/tk41r1_s.gif\" alt=\"TK-41C\" width=\"100\" height=\"75\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/color_cameras.html\">Color Television Camera Development<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"33%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/studios.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/cbs_don_s.gif\" alt=\"CBS Bloodshot Eye\" width=\"99\" height=\"76\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/studios.html\">Early Color Television Studio Facilities<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"33%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rca_nbc_firsts.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/rca_nbc_s.gif\" alt=\"1940's RCA camera logo\" width=\"89\" height=\"50\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rca_nbc_firsts.html\">RCA-NBC Firsts in Color Television<br \/>\n&#8211; a Chronology<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"34%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rca_labs_rcvrs.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/trin_2_s.gif\" alt=\"Triniscope\" width=\"74\" height=\"75\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/rca_labs_rcvrs.html\">RCA Labs Developmental Color Television Receivers<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"33%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/camden_rcvrs.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/mscor_s.gif\" alt=\"MODEL 5\" width=\"44\" height=\"75\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/camden_rcvrs.html\">RCA Camden Developmental Receivers<\/a><\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"33%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/clr_rcvr_db.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/ct100_s.gif\" alt=\"CT100\" width=\"47\" height=\"74\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/clr_rcvr_db.html\">Early Field Test, Prototype, and Commercial Color Receivers<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/gallery_index_v2.02_11-20-2006.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/kenbridge_s.gif\" alt=\"CTC-9 Kenbridge\" width=\"99\" height=\"76\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Color Receiver Gallery<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/gallery_index_v2.02_11-20-2006.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The First\u00a0<s>Five<\/s>\u00a0Eight Years of RCA Victor Color Receivers<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/line.gif\" alt=\"Color Line\" width=\"600\" height=\"6\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Coming Attractions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"tabletext\">\n<li>The Day a Colorful World, Turned Crystal Clear &#8211; October 29, 1998, The First Coast to Coast HDTV Network Telecast, as seen at KTLA<\/li>\n<li>CBS Field-Sequential Camera and Receiver Development<\/li>\n<li>RCA Labs Simultaneous and Dot Sequential Color System Development, (detailed)<\/li>\n<li>RCA Labs Developmental Color Television Receivers, (detailed)<\/li>\n<li>CTI Line-Sequential Color System<\/li>\n<li>The 1949-1950 FCC Hearings on Color Television<\/li>\n<li>The Progress of the National Television System Committee (NTSC), (detailed)<\/li>\n<li>Color CRT Development &#8211; RCA, CBS Colortron, Philco Apple, GE Focus Grill, Lawrence Chromatron<\/li>\n<li>Early NBC Color Kinescope Recording<\/li>\n<li>RCA&#8217;s Pioneering Development of Color Video Tape Recording<\/li>\n<li>Restoring the Earliest Surviving Color Video Tapes &#8211; &#8220;An Evening with Fred Astaire &#8221; (October 17, 1958) and Eisenhower&#8217;s Dedication of WRC-TV, Washington (May 22, 1958)<\/li>\n<li>Preserving the History of Television at UCLA &#8211; The Collection of Television Technology and Design (- a reprint of my IEEE paper)<\/li>\n<li>All text within this site is Copyright 1997-2002, 2004-2006 by E.H. Reitan, Jr.<\/li>\n<li>All logos and photographs herein are trademarked\/copyrighted with their respective corporations\/owners, and are used herein for demonstration purposes only.<\/li>\n<li>This site is maintained by Ed Reitan. This site is work in progress and an excerpted version of what was planned as a future paper book version. The book was to have extensive full-color photographs and technical information on each topic.<\/li>\n<li>However, I have had no great number of publishers offering large $$$ advances breaking down my door. Instead, I may offer a CDROM which has the additional coverage and hi-resolution photos. I would like your opinions of the interest in such an approach. Please contact the author at the email address above.<center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/Reitan\/images\/line.gif\" alt=\"Color Line\" width=\"600\" height=\"6\" \/>V3.21 01-30-2007&nbsp;\n<p><\/center>At this link <a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/ed_reitan.html\">Ed Reitan<\/a> you&#8217;ll be able to understand what Ed was about and the amazing things this engineering wizard was not only able to document as a historian but his efforts in restoration are Emmy Award winning! Ed passed in 2015, but his brilliant contributions to broadcast history live on! Many thanks to our friends at Early Television for their continued cooperation in curating and archiving the important details of television&#8217;s progress.<center><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlytelevision.org\/ed_reitan.html\">Ed Reitan<\/a><\/center><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ed Reitan&#8217;s Color Television History &nbsp; KTLA&#8217;s 1955 Colorcast of The Tournament of Roses Parade\u00a0(clipping of Variety Review)CBS Color Television System Programming (1951)\u00a0(added licensed Time-Life photo) CBS Color Television System Chronology\u00a0&#8211; a &#8220;Magnum Opus&#8221; RCA Models using the CTC-10 Chassis\u00a0has been added to the Receiver Gallery The Color Pioneers &#8211; Local Stations with Early Live [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_popup_image":0,"_vp_format_audio_url":"","_vp_album_images":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail":0,"_vp_custom_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail_cover":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[724,783,709,782,751],"class_list":["post-81696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cast","tag-cbs","tag-engineer","tag-nbc","tag-video-tape"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81696"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81702,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81696\/revisions\/81702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}